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June 4, 2012 Run of the Mill Since late-February, our estimates of the market's prospective return/risk tradeoff (over a set of horizons from 2 weeks to 18 months) have persistently held in the worst 0.5% of all historical observations. It's always important to emphasize that we try to align ourselves with the average return/risk profile that has historically accompanied the particular set of investment conditions we observe at each point in time, but that the outcome in any specific instance may not reflect the average return, and may even fall outside of what we view as the likely range of outcomes. That said, the awful behavior of the market in recent weeks is very run-of-the-mill in terms of how similarly unfavorable conditions have usually been resolved historically, and there is no evidence that this awful prospective course has changed much. The chart I included three weeks ago in Dancing at the Edge of a Cliff presents similar periods for historical perspective. It's probably needless to say that last week's decline improved valuations modestly - we presently estimate prospective 10-year total returns (nominal) for the S&P 500 about 5.5% annually, based on our standard methodology. Most bear markets have historically ended only after prospective returns moved above 10% (including bear markets in periods of very low interest rates, and also including 2009). Moreover, regardless of whether interest rates have been high or low, extended secular bear markets have ended - and secular bull market advances have begun - only when prospective 10-year returns have reached about 20% annually (see Too Little To Lock In for a chart on this). So it won't come as a surprise that we don't view a 5.5% annual prospective total return as having much investment merit. You don't "lock in" prospective stock market returns - you ride them out, and holding on for the expectation of a 5.5% prospective annual return is likely to involve a very bumpy 10-year ride. Investors with most of their assets already invested and unhedged should hope that prospective market returns move no higher than about 8% through the completion of the present cycle, since even touching a prospective return of 10% in the interim would require an S&P 500 in the mid-800's. Though I think it's plausible that we'll establish prospective returns consistent with the start of a secular bull market at some point in the next few years, actually quoting the associated level for the S&P 500 would only strain credibility here. Investors have forgotten so much after just 3 years time that it seems fruitless to talk about secular lows that only occur every 30-35 years (even if the last secular low was all the way back in 1982). At this point, the S&P 500 has achieved a cumulative total return of less than 10% since April 2010. Meanwhile, of course, there remains a great deal of faith in the "Bernanke put," because even though it's fairly obvious that QE has done nothing durable for the economy or the financial markets over the last couple of years, a hit of QE might at least be good for a few months of "risk on" delirium. If the American public can't get thoughtful economic leadership, at least Wall Street's speculative junkies can hope for a little taste of Q from Sugar Daddy. One of the problems with QE here, however, is that it would essentially represent fiscal policy for the benefit of speculators, at taxpayer expense. To see this, note that the 10-year Treasury yield is now down to less than 1.5%. One wonders how Bernanke would be able to argue, with a straight face, that this is not low enough. Nevertheless, a 10-year bond has a duration of 8 years - meaning that each 100 basis point fluctuation in interest rates is associated with a change of about 8% in the price of the bond. So if you buy the bond and hold it for a full year, an interest rate change of of 1.5/8 = .1875, or less than 20 basis points, is enough to wipe out the annual interest and leave you with a negative total return. So at this point, if the Fed buys Treasury bonds, it will predictably lose money - after interest - unless interest rates rise less than 20 basis points a year during the period that the Fed holds those bonds. Over the past year, the standard deviation of week-to-week changes in the 10-year Treasury yield has been about 13 basis points, so 20 bips over the course of a full year is nothing. Whether or not a speculator is willing to take a bet on lower yields, it's highly unlikely that the Fed could buy Treasury bonds here at a yield of 1.5% and ever expect to unload its portfolio later at even lower yields, because yields would shoot higher merely on the anticipation of Fed liquidation. As a result, Treasury debt purchased by the Fed here would almost certainly result in capital losses, at taxpayer expense, and those capital losses would be an implicit subsidy to speculators who sold those bonds to the Fed at elevated prices. Of course, "sterilized QE" - where the Fed would buy bonds, and then pay banks 0.25% interest to keep the balances on reserve - would involve an even larger subsidy, and would then require only a 15 basis point move to put the Fed into loss mode. "QE3 - subsidizing banks and bond speculators at taxpayer expense" - there's a pithy slogan. That doesn't mean the Fed will refrain from more of its recklessness (which will be nearly impossible to reverse when it becomes necessary to do so), but does anyone actually believe by now that QE would improve the economy, durably elevate risky assets beyond a few months, or materially relieve global debt strains? Despite the uncertainties, our game plan remains fairly straightforward. As I noted two weeks ago in Liquidation Syndrome, "there may be latitude to take a more constructive stance between the point that any new monetary intervention produces an improvement in our measures of market internals, and the point where we re-establish an overvalued, overbought, overbullish syndrome. Without a material improvement in valuations or market action here, we remain defensive. Undoubtedly, the best outcome would be a strong improvement in valuations, followed by signs of improvement in our measures of market action, which is the typical sequence of events that complete a market cycle and can launch a very favorable investment environment. "In the meantime, however, a bad week is unlikely to change our assessment unless that bad week includes a market crash. Last week was not a crash, though a free-fall appears increasingly possible, as the reality of emerging recession (and all that it implies for fresh credit risks, sovereign defaults, fiscal imbalances, banking strains and other problems) will likely smash against the consensus view of economic expansion in next few months. I continue to view the U.S. economy as most probably entering a recession that will ultimately be marked as beginning in May or June of 2012." My Views in a Nutshell: We remain strongly defensive here, which will ideally be resolved by a sharp improvement in valuations followed by early improvement in market action, but we'll respond to shifts in the evidence however conditions change. I doubt that we'll be as defensive as we've been recently for a great while longer, but that's another way of saying that I expect significant market events in fairly short order. We will respond to any further round of QE to the extent that we observe improvement in our measures of market internals, absent other hostile syndromes of market conditions. We do not share the market's blind faith in a "Bernanke put." Valuations have improved marginally, but the market remains dramatically higher than levels typically associated with run-of-the-mill bear market lows, not to mention secular ones. I expect that the U.S. economy is presently entering a recession, which is global in nature. It is unlikely to respond meaningfully to monetary stimulus, which has already gone well past the point of diminishing returns, and on to the point of recklessness. At present yields, a further round of QE would essentially amount to fiscal policy, subsidizing bond market speculators and banks, and ultimately producing near-certain losses for the Fed, after interest, and at public expense. Stocks remain overvalued on the basis of normalized earnings, and only appear reasonably priced on the basis of "forward earnings" because forward earnings estimates implicitly reflect assumed profit margins that are 50-70% above historical norms. Present elevated profit margins are a direct result of massive deficit spending coupled with low savings rates, allowing corporate revenues to outstrip depressed labor expenses. This reflects an accounting identity (see Too Little to Lock In). Without huge deficits and depressed savings, labor income would only be able to support much more limited corporate revenues. The argument that profit margins will contract does not require labor costs to rise - it merely recognizes that massive Federal deficits and weak personal savings rates cannot be sustained over the long-term. The problems in Europe reflect the impossibility of having a currency union without having a fiscal union, and even 94% agreement among European countries on Eurobonds or other approaches is not sufficient if the 6% holdout happens to be Germany, which is being called on to finance endless transfers and allow money to be permanently printed in order subsidize debt-strapped neighbors. Investors should expect no easy solutions to the fiscal and global challenges ahead. They should instead expect market valuations that adequately reflect the fact that there are no easy solutions. In my view, those valuations remain miles below present market levels. Market Climate As of last week, our estimates of prospective market return/risk in stocks remained in the most negative 0.5% of historical observations. That said, a meaningful further decline would likely improve that return/risk profile to a less extreme, though probably still negative condition. For now, Strategic Growth and Strategic International remain tightly hedged, while Strategic Dividend Value is hedged near 50% of the value its stock holdings - its most defensive stance. In Strategic Total Return, we took profits on long-held bond positions last week, cutting the Fund's duration to less than one year. Last week's plunge in rates took the 10-year Treasury yield to a point where capital losses, after interest, would result from even a 20 basis point increase in yields over a one-year holding period. Given that annual yield variability is a significant multiple of that amount, and we don't view a 1.45% annual return for 10-years as an appropriate investment return, we have to recognize that Treasury bonds are essentially a speculative asset here. While we continue to expect a recession, which may very well produce even lower yields, even a small spike in yields is likely to wipe out any further gains from present levels. Even if we're headed toward permanently lower yield levels, which I doubt, we don't expect weekly volatility to decline dramatically, which means that meaningful interest rate swings will remain commonplace, and we'll have opportunities to vary our portfolio duration in response. Strategic Total Return is sensitive both to yield levels and pressures that drive yield trends. Whether the secular trend remains down or turns higher, we expect enough variability in yields to benefit our approach. The recent plunge in yields accurately reflects a dire global economic picture, but it also leaves little on the table but speculative merit.--- The foregoing comments represent the general investment analysis and economic views of the Advisor, and are provided solely for the purpose of information, instruction and discourse. Prospectuses for the Hussman Strategic Growth Fund, the Hussman Strategic Total Return Fund, the Hussman Strategic International Fund, and the Hussman Strategic Dividend Value Fund, as well as Fund reports and other information, are available by clicking "The Funds" menu button from any page of this website. |
For more information about investing in the Hussman Funds, please call us at
1-800-HUSSMAN (1-800-487-7626) 513-326-3551 outside the United States Site and site contents © copyright Hussman Funds. Brief quotations including attribution and a direct link to this site (www.hussmanfunds.com) are authorized. All other rights reserved and actively enforced. Extensive or unattributed reproduction of text or research findings are violations of copyright law. Site design by 1WebsiteDesigners. |


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- Sun damage can raise a myriad of skin issues, but in a densely populated market, brand targets need to be known in order to develop a good strategy.
- Sun care products that multitask—and therefore include reparative ingredients, as well as SPF, moisturizer and other skin wellness benefits—continue to rise.
- Consumers are encouraged to develop good sun care habits early, although this isn't always the case. An increasing number of younger consumers are mimicking the habits they see displayed by the sun-damaged baby boomer generation.
As summer fades into fall and people begin to seek less time out in the warm sunshine, thoughts are also beginning to turn to any damage skin may have taken on during the sun-drenched summer months. Male and female, young and old, any ethnicity or race—people consistently tend to overexpose themselves to the sun—leading to inflammation, sun spots, wrinkles and fine lines, and further damage that consumers seek to address with skin care products.
"When it comes to the market for sun care, nearly every [consumer is a target consumer]. Everyone has damage associated with sun exposure, so sun care needs to be a daily concern, a regimen," says Gwen O'Hanlon, vice president of sales and education, Darphin. "We want consumers to evolve with our brand, so we want to develop products that are available to them at every stage of their skin's life, because skin does change. It's sort of like clothes—what looked good 20 years ago might not look as good now or be so fashionable, and as skin evolves and its concerns change; you want to make sure you affect positive changes with the appropriate products to encompass the entire journey."
Noting the evolution of concerns that might results from sun damage, Adam Geyer, MD, a consulting dermatologist for Kiehl's, says, "Often, when we think about the skin as it is chronically exposed to the sun, we focus mostly on the expected increase in lines and wrinkles. However, we have come to recognize that one of the most significant indicators of the health of skin is the evenness of its tone." Whatever the concern, post-sun skin care is a big market, and brand owners seeking to benefit from it are wise to rely on its strengths—protecting skin with SPF products and repairing damaged skin.
Taking Action
"Post-sun and sun damage repair products cover a wide spectrum of products," comments Geyer. "These include soothing products for sunburn/damage relief, DNA repair products and products to reduce the chronic effects of UV exposure."
Each of these designated skin care issue areas supports its own market segment in the beauty industry, which is why its important to have an understanding of each. "In the first category are products intended for use immediately after sun exposure that aim to soothe inflamed and irritated skin. These products often have botanicals such as aloe with anti-inflammatory effects and that provide some physiologic cooling effect when applied to the skin," Geyer says. "Though cortisones and aspirin have commonly been used by physicians to quiet inflamed, sunburnt skin, there are an increasing number of new post-sun products that offer a more gentle and botanical anti-inflammatory effect.
"Second, still for use in the acute post-sun period, we are seeing more DNA repair products appearing in the marketplace, aiming to support the cellular machinery that scans for small mutations in our DNA caused by UV exposure with the hope that these defects can be better repaired before they become problematic in the weeks and years to come," Geyer continues. "Third are the products that help to reduce the negative downstream effects that take place from acute and/or chronic UV exposure—ranging from fine lines to deeper wrinkles, to brown spots, to textural changes."
As noted, different lines and products can be focused in on different post-sun skin needs. "In targeting post-sun skin repair, something for immediate usage would be a product to replenish moisture while also including antioxidants to fight free radicals. And of course, for prevention, moisturizers with a minimum of SPF 15 are a must," notes Joe Pastorkovich, vice president, Lumene North America.
Amos Lavian, founder, Dermelect Cosmeceuticals, says, "Obviously, you want to cool skin that's been exposed to the sun for a long period of time." Lavian also notes the importance of products that help reduce redness and calm inflammation. "They help take the flush out of the face and work to soothe dilated capillaries," he says.
More and more products in this category are also becoming multitaskers. "Needless to say, the first step for damage control after sun exposure is to moisturize your skin," says Sophie Jacques, senior product manager, skin care, Yves Rocher, but she notes Yves Rocher offers products that combine sun care with anti-aging benefits, as well as those that offer ingredients such as aloe vera to soothe and hydrate the body. Additionally, the company offers an age spot-diffusing serum that targets age spots, uneven skin tone and loss of radiance, and even fights wrinkles. "You can use [this product] on hands as well," she notes.
"Exfoliation is also key," Lavian comments, saying sloughing off dead skin cells helps stimulate regeneration and helps decrease unwanted skin pigmentation. He also points out the need for replacing moisture for skin when working to protect it from the sun "We have a facial mist product that I like to refer to as 'Gatorade for your face,' " he says. "It helps bind the moisture and minerals to skin, so even as you sit in the sun and sweat, it helps you replace lost nutrients."
Meeting the Market
With the range of people who can be marketed to with post-sun skin care products, however, it can pose a problem when trying to laser in the focus of a brand. "We make and market all our products to all women and all ages, but for sun care, we are really focusing in on women who are 40+, whose skin is starting to change and they're beginning to see the effects of years of sun damage—wrinkles, dark spots and so on," says Pastorkovich. He notes the entire line recently repackaged its products to include suggested age ranges on the back of its boxes. "We want to make it easier for consumers to find products that are targeting common problems associated with various age groups," he says.
Howard Epstein, PhD, director of technology and business development, cosmetic actives and bio actives, EMD Chemicals, comments, "Technologies with minimal toxicological concerns are ideal for children and adults with concerns about sensitive skin, while older individuals will seek products that help maintain a youthful appearance in terms of fine lines and wrinkles. Individuals with darker skin will seek products that help to lighten skin and promote a more even skin tone."
Of course, as with the vast majority of the skin care market, an aging generation is one most brand owners tend to see continually seeking solutions. "The baby boomer generation appears to be driving this market," Epstein says. "The 50+ generation is showing signs of sun-induced aging, which is cumulative over the years. They have the disposable income and can experiment with new products designed to help skin remain youthful-looking."
The use of products by baby boomers is also having a trickle-down effect. "The treatment category has become a lot younger," Lavian notes, saying younger women are picking up habits from their mothers, who are addressing their own sun-damage. "We've noticed a lot of daughters following in moms' footsteps, becoming more conscientious and delving into skin care at a much earlier age."
Talking to Consumers
Once products are established for a market, brands also face the challenge of getting the word out about the new products and break through the clutter. "The best way for the [brand owner] to reach the target customers is through a well-designed package with an easy-to-dispense lid or cap that can be removed and [that includes] appropriate, well-written copy on the label with a message that speaks directly to the target consumer," Epstein says. "The marketing, less technical approach seems to work best when the story is told with pictures and bullet-point summaries. The appearance of skin before and after treatment, and how long the improvement took, is very impressive. Our most successful technical presentations are loaded with relevant biological pathways and data from well-conducted studies that confirm the marketing story."
Packaging remains a vital consumer connection point, a fact that isn't lost in sun care. "Kiehl's has very direct and clear packaging, and they work hard to present their product message in a straightforward and direct way right on the label," says Geyer, and Pastorkovich notes, "We consistently hear that it's very easy to get confused in the retail skin care setting. The women we've talked to say, 'When I get to the shelf, I can't tell what's right for me.' So when we are developing our products and packaging, we work hard to clearly convey the message about the ingredients and what they do, and what kinds of problems they target."
It is often well-educated retailers and salespeople that aid in the education of consumers, too. "The team of customer representatives and educators in the Kiehl's stores are highly trained and work carefully with consumers to match appropriate products with the skin care needs and concerns of their patrons," notes Geyer, and O'Hanlon also speaks to the importance of education. "The key for Darphin is working through educating," she says. "Finding a solution for the problem is our platform, our key to success.
"There are multiple types of consumers and different types of lifestyles," O'Hanlon continues on about reaching target markets. "It's about finding the best way to interact with our consumers, to discover how our products fit into their regimen and continuously work to meet their demands."
Lavian says Dermelect also tries to develop products that cross designations. "We don't try to pigeonhole customers into specific categories," he says. "We want our customers to be satisfied, and that is also about having the right, reasonable expectations. If you have 30 years of sun damage, there's no 30-day quick fix with a topical treatment, but you do need to start somewhere, and that's where a good product comes in."
In the end, the marketing should be about getting attention and getting out the right word. "What is most vital in my discussions with my patients is to ensure consistency of good habits—consistent sunscreen use and, if sun damage occurs, taking an aggressive and early approach to repair that can help to minimize the propagation of negative changes down the road," Geyer says.
Staying Protected
Moving ahead in the post-sun skin care market, products that address a range of issues will continue to be popular, as well as those that feature innovative, interesting ingredients. Of the Kiehl's post-sun line, Geyer explains, "This combination of ingredients works together to do more than just target pigmentation. Vitamin C is a potent ingredient used to treat lines and wrinkles as well as dullness of texture, so though the marketing of this product is geared toward pigmentation, it indeed addresses a broader spectrum of issues associated with photoaging."
Ingredient companies are also working diligently to tend to this market. In early 2011, ISP launched Caspaline 14, a synthetic peptide designed to help the skin's natural barrier function protect against UV rays, as well as promote skin softness and suppleness. And DSM markets its skin-brightening Regu-Fade ingredient as a way to diminish age spots and excessive pigmentation, both of which can be associated with sun-damaged skin, while its ingredients Stimu-Tex and Stimu-Tex AS work to soothe irritated skin, fight inflammation and calm itching. To attract consumers seeking new ingredient solutions, brands are also seeking out unique resources. "Lumene is based out of Finland, and many of our products include natural ingredients found in the Arctic areas of Scandinavia," explains Pastorkovich. "In the spring, the vegetation there really comes alive, and as a result of continuous sunlight around the clock, the plants and berries are incredibly rich with concentrated vitamins."
For the Future
To maintain a healthy glow without any of the damage, however, preventive and protective products still are a strong presence. "It would be my ideal vision as a dermatologist that, over time, we will need to focus less on post-sun products as more and more people will be dedicated to broad-spectrum UV protection and prevention of sun damage, but the reality is that people continue to tan, whether intentionally or unintentionally," Geyer says. "In my opinion, [a product that hits] the biggest target market would be to combine features of the instant anti-inflammatory, DNA repair and correction of visible signs of photoaging categories all in one product. This could then appeal to those both young and old, male and female, and have both positive health and cosmetic benefits."
"Overall, people need to understand that you need to be proactive with sun care, not just reactive, in order to have long-term results," says O'Hanlon. "And even if you miss everything else, at least remember your face, neck and décolleté, and apply a good SPF each morning."
"Efficacy in the products is always number one," says Pastorkovich, and Lavian agrees, commenting, "I can bring to market the most fascinating, innovative product, but if it doesn't work or no one needs it, it's not going to go anywhere."

subset: commoncrawl


text: The rising red tide with climate change by Angela Herring May 15, 2013 Share Facebook LinkedIn Twitter The tattoos on Ashley Cryan's ankles depict a chicken and a pig. Since the days of Captain Cook, sailors have donned the animals' likenesses to help them walk on water and guard against drowning. According to folklore, the animals—which survived shipwrecks more often than humans—had a special power that protected them from succumbing to the sea. Cryan, whose grandfather taught her to sail when she was 11, got her tattoos after surviving a shipwreck. She said they symbolize strength and survival, two qualities that the recent environmental studies graduate is also interested in from a research perspective. Cryan won the 2013 Research, Innovation, and Scholarship Expo's award in physical and life sciences for her work examining the impact of climate change on the incidence and severity of a toxic species of algae called Alexandrium fundyense. According to Cryan, the red tides—as the blooms are commonly known—have been a growing concern since the 1970s when a massive bloom shut down shellfisheries along the Gulf of Maine's coastline for more than a month during the peak of harvesting season. Alexandrium naturally produces one of the most potent neurotoxins on the planet: saxitoxin. As this compound accumulates in the bodies of shellfish that consume the algae, the concentration of the toxin renders them unsafe for human consumption. There is no cure for paralytic shellfish poisoning—the life-threatening syndrome caused by ingestion of these contaminated shellfish—and so shellfish beds must be closed for the duration of the bloom. This puts an enormous financial burden on fishers whose livelihoods depend on oysters, clams, and mussels. If a contaminated shellfish makes it to a human's dinner plate, Cryan said, Alexandrium becomes a major public health concern. Cryan first learned of Alexandrium on co-op at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts. "My supervisor was working on developing a way to suppress blooms by burying the cyst form of the organism in the sediment so it wouldn't germinate," she said. On the WHOI annual cruise, Cryan measured cyst quantity in the Gulf of Maine's sediment bed. Changes in ocean temperature, average pH level, and carbon content and speciation, she explained, indicate that Alexandrium's growth and survival may also be changing. For her RISE research, Cryan examined the entire body of literature on the topic, looking for examples of how these kinds of changes affect the organism. "The focus of many recent studies of the dynamics of the Alexandrium population is on finding ways to prevent, control, or mitigate blooms," said Cryan. "We need to look at applying this knowledge to blooms in the context of climate change in the future." Cryan plans on spending the summer researching toxic algae with WHOI and then setting sail for California, where she hopes to continue her research on the impact of climate change on marine ecosystems.


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Factory Housing for workers at the Ashton Mill. After 1868, Cumberland, Rhode Island. The Mill dates from c. 1868, and I assume the housing came later. Photograph and text by George P. Landow. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL.]
Last modified 5 May 2008


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01 Jan 2003 Talking Points on Health Care #17: Why National Health Insurance Means Waiting for Care
Some advocates argue that a universal government run "single payer" heath system is the solution to America's health care problems of rising costs and a substantial uninsured population. However, the experience of countries with such nationalized health systems shows that following their advice would simply trade one set of problems for another.
For example, nationalized health systems typically control costs by setting fixed annual budgets for medical services, which has the effect of rationing medical care and creating waiting lists for treatment.
When any hospital treats more patients, it costs more. In the U.S. the hospital is paid for treating each patient, either by the patient's private or public (Medicare or Medicaid) insurer, or by the patient directly. In the small number of cases where the patient is both uninsured and unable to pay, the costs are passed on to other, paying patients
Thus, US hospitals have incentives to: treat more patients because each patient brings in more revenue; hold down costs by treating patients quickly and efficiently, and; treat difficult and expensive cases, since they will be paid more for those treatments.
In contrast, in a national health system with fixed hospital budgets the incentives are reversed. The more patients a hospital treats, and the sicker they are, the quicker it will use up its budget and be forced to suspend services until new money is available. Thus, the hospital's incentives are to spend its budget predictably by treating a steady, limited stream of patients throughout the year, and to avoid patients with expensive, but not immediately life threatening, conditions. Inevitably then, some patients are forced to wait until resources are available to treat them. Furthermore, increasing the hospital's budget doesn't make much difference, since the incentives remain the same. The new money is usually spent on predictable (budgetable) items like increased staff salaries.


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The B.C. government has tasked ICBC with refining three components of its revamped rate model.
Changes include adjusting contentious unlisted driver protection, which is $50 in additional insurance for drivers who lend their car to friends and family fewer than 12 times a year.
The fee is optional, but when introducing it, ICBC had said not paying it could cost you.
The Justice Ministry has directed the corporation to instead allow vehicle owners to consider getting it only after the first crash involving an unlisted driver.
"This change will help with the transition to an updated model, where listing other drivers is a new concept," the ministry said.
READ MORE: New ICBC rate structure moves ahead
Other requests include not incorporating the driving history of lower-risk drivers into a vehicle owner's premium if they are not household members or employees. This is in a bid to prevent people from adding those drivers to their policies to artificially reduce their premium.
Drivers also need more time when deciding whether to repay claims and how that decreases or increases their premium, the government said. Those with claims made between Mar. 1, 2017 and Aug. 31, 2019 will have until Aug. 31, 2020 to make their decision.
Pending approval from the B.C. Utilities Commission, the changes will be in effect for policies beginning on or after Sept. 1.
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这段消息来自NetworkWorld,原作者是 Ellen Messmer,她在"Beware Android Malware Masquerading as Chinese Game"一文中透露了这个消息。(原文附在本文之后)
这个安卓手机的新木马病毒的游戏软件叫"The Roar of the Pharaoh"。
Fake 'The Roar of the Pharaoh'
Android app latest Trojan scam
By Ellen Messmer, NetworkWorld, March 29, 2012 04:45 PM ET
It may look like an app for a Chinese game called "The Roar of the Pharaoh," but it's actually just another fake Android app that's really a malware Trojan in disguise, according to security researchers warning about it.
Writing in a blog, Sophos security researcher Chester Wisniewski calls it a "malicious application" that "gathers sensitive information" about the Android device it lands on, collecting personal information and technical details, including phone number, and "sends it off to the malware's authors."
"Like many other mobile Trojans, this one sends SMS messages to premium rate SMS numbers and is capable of reading your SMSs as well," Wisniewski says in his blog.
He points out that SMS scams work because "the mobile phone companies provide the payment processing and the bad guys have their money and are long gone before you ever receive the phone bill with the fraudulent charges." It is similar to another piece of Android malware, which mimicked the popular Netflix app.
Sophos has identified the Android Trojan as Andr/Stiniter-A, and says it doesn't ask for specific permissions during installation. "The Roar of the Pharaoh" is a legitimate Chinese game , though the Android app for it is not believed to be distributed on Google's site called Google Play (formerly Android Marketplace).
Michael Sutton, vice president of security research at cloud-based security provider Zscaler, said the fake "The Roar of the Pharaoh" app for Android reflects the shift of malware authors to target the Android platform, whether smartphones or tablets. Fake game apps that are really Trojans are increasing and "this is a typical scam for Android now," he says.
Ellen Messmer is senior editor at Network World, an IDG publication and website, where she covers news and technology trends related to information security.
Read more about wide area network in Network World's Wide Area Network section.
For more information about enterprise networking, go to NetworkWorld. Story copyright 2011 Network World Inc. All rights reserved.
《myCLLab:李前南:安卓新木马病毒:就躲在中文游戏The Roar of the Pharaoh里【2012.4.1】》


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Nigeria exits recession
The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Nigeria has exited its worst economic recession in more than two decades, notching up growth of 0.55 per cent in the second quarter of 2017
In its report released on Tuesday, the data showed that the economic recovery was driven by improved performance of oil, agriculture, manufacturing and trade sectors of the economy.
it said that since the first quarter of 2016, the Nigerian economy had contracted for five consecutive quarters.
According to the report, the west African powerhouse slipped into recession for the first time in more than two decades in August 2016.
"In the second quarter of 2017, the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 0.55% (year-on-year) in real terms, indicating the emergence of the economy from recession after five consecutive quarters of contraction since Q1 2016," it said.
Nigeria, which depends on oil sector for 70 per cent of state revenues and 90 per cent of export earnings, has been battered by lower oil prices since mid-2014, which have slashed government revenues, weakened the currency and caused dollar shortages, frustrating business and households.
The nation's economic woes were excerbated by militant attacks on key oil infrastructure in the restive Niger delta, slashing output.
The crisis is heaping pressure on President Muhammadu Buhari, who took office in May 2015 on an anti-corruption platform.
His government is also grappling with separatist agitation in the country's southeast, farmer-herders clashes in the central, Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast and kidnappings and militancy in the south.
Analysts said the outlook for more growth looks positive for Nigeria.
"You can see that there have been improved performances in non-oil sectors in the second quarter," said Bismark Rewane of the Lagos-based Financial Derivatives Company.
"The prospects for more robust growth are bright. I hope the current economic diversification efforts which see efforts being given to agriculture and mining will be sustained," he said.
He said the nation's economy would also bouy if ongoing truce with Niger delta militants was intensified.
"If there are no attacks on oil facilities and production is increased and Nigeria earns more money, then the economy will stabilise."
Nigeria's oil output has ramped up to an average of two million barrels per day from a low of 1.3 million in 2016 following government peace talks with the oil rebels.


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Whether you are thinking of buying or selling a home, choosing the
right REALTOR® for you is important. Your relationship with your
REALTOR® will help you feel more comfortable and assist in making your
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This is Armageddon. Nuclear winter is upon NBA fans.
The players got together in New York on Monday and not only voted to reject the league's ultimatum offer, but voted to start the process to decertify the union.
"We've arrived at the conclusion that the collective bargaining process has completely broken down, and as a result in the last hour we have served a notice of disclaimer on (David) Stern and the NBA," union director Billy Hunter said after the meeting. "We plan to disseminate that to all 30 teams. …
"The players are not ready to accept the ultimatum. They thought it was completely unfair on the part of the NBA ownership and management. … We have negotiated in good faith for two years, but the players have felt they have given enough."
That step — a notice of disclaimer essentially says the union has no interest in representing the players in negotiations any longer and is abandoning that right — is the first step in anti-trust lawsuits that will be filed by players in the coming days. This is the step the NFL players' union took and something agents have pushed the NBA union to do since July. The timing essentially blows up the negotiating process when there wasn't a lot of time left to save the 2011-12 season.
The courts move slowly, but the union has reached its breaking point. It has gone to the one, big card it could play.
The reaction of the owners will be to hunker down, play hardball and try to force their entire wish list — such as salary rollbacks and a hard salary cap — on the players. The owners are not going to be scared by this at all.
Basically, Commissioner Stern is going to let his hardliners have the run of the place. Guys who were already willing to miss a season get to have their way.
Meanwhile, NBA fans lose. And so does the league.
"This is where it stops for us as a union," said Derek Fisher, union president.
It might be where a lot of fans stop if a full season is lost. But the union is moving forward with these plans.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo, several players have hired top anti-trust attorney David Boies. If the name is familiar, he was involved in the NFL's anti-trust cases. Boies is the guy who had the anti-trust cases against Microsoft (and had some success there) and he was they guy representing Al Gore in Gore vs. Bush.
Technically, what this legal move does is turn the union into a "trade association" that works for the players but does not represent them in negotiating a CBA. Ultimately when a deal is struck, the union will reform.
Stern did not back down in an interview on ESPN, saying the players got bad advice on negotiating tactics if this was their move.
"It's not going to work," Stern said. "If they were going to do this, maybe they should have done this a long time ago so we had a chance to save the season. But they seem hell-bent on self-destruction."
The league already has filed a lawsuit trying to block decertification of the union, and there have been arguments on the players' efforts to have that case dismissed (but no ruling yet). That situation just becomes a lot more messy.
The players' announcement came after about a four-hour meeting where about 50 players were looking at a take-it-or-leave-it offer from the league. That deal offered the players a 50/50 share of league revenue (once the owners took a healthy cut of expenses off the top) and a much more restrictive system of player movement than had been allowed before. The offer the players had wanted would have returned about $280 million a season (in last year's dollars) to the owners, but the players wanted a less restrictive system. The owners had long said the two were not tied. It wanted both the money and the system changes.
Stern has said that if the players rejected this offer, the owners would counter with a "reset" offer that would give the players just 47 percent of basketball related income (down from 50 in the last offer and 57 percent last season) and a hard salary cap. The players' meeting was well-attended and featured not only team representatives but also Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook and many other star players. They all raised their hands in the press conference and said they supported this move.
Stern has warned the players against decertification and called it a "nuclear option." The players just pushed the button.
It is a dark, dark day for the NBA.


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From India East presents sculptures from the Asian art collection of the Brooklyn Museum. The works were chosen by the Rubin Museum's curators to trace the development of Buddhist and Hindu sculpture back to its roots in the art of ancient India. The year-long exhibition includes art from Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, and Japan. The loan was made possible by the Brooklyn Museum's temporary closing of its Asian art galleries.
The Rubin Museum made a selection of objects according to a concept that connects with its own collection: tracing back the origins of Buddhist and Hindu sculptural art in Asia to its roots, showing the stylistic evolution by both geographic distribution and time period. This means that the oldest examples of Indian art, be they Buddhist or Hindu in origin, have been chosen as various kinds of prototypes by which a more wide-spread evolution of Asian art can be identified.


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The government "closed" this week. The quotation marks are meant to indicate that the worst parts of the government remain open at some level. It would be preferable to keep the monuments and national parks, like the Grand Canyon, going while closing the Pentagon, the State Department, the CIA, the NSA, ICE, FBI, ATF, and all related so-called national-security agencies.
The government is so entwined in our lives that some innocent people are hurt by the partial shutdown. Policies have consequences, creating perverse incentives and dependencies. Government intervention blocks routes out of poverty, and in self-defense, the ruling elite ameliorates some of the worst effects with handouts. If the handouts are suddenly yanked while the barriers stay in place, hardship will result.
If you were planning a trip abroad, but now won't have your passport renewed in time, you are a victim. That is a good reason not to have government issuing passports. Before World War I, you could travel without a one. War is the health of the state.*
Government equals centralization, and centralization means that bad ideas harm far more people than would be harmed under decentralized governance.
At its heart, the state — more precisely, the pretenders who call themselves "leaders" — is capable of the most horrendous acts. The U.S. government stands out in this regard. From the micro level to the macro, we can trace the trail of blood, misery, and poverty. I'll cite just two examples.
The other day I saw a commercial for the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization that renders assistance to veterans injured in the recent American wars. It shows a former member of the armed forces who sustained a serious head injury "when his Humvee was blown up in Iraq." Among the scenes is one of his young daughter reading to her now-enfeebled dad. Another shows her helping him walk.
These scenes brought tears to my eyes, and I said out loud, "This is what the state does to people." I should have said, "This is what the state does to families and little girls and boys." The biggest victim here is the daughter, who now must see her young dad in that pathetic condition, likely for the rest of his life. He volunteered for the military (no doubt after being propagandized as a teenager), but his daughter was not asked if she was willing to sacrifice her dad for … for what?
I also thought, "Why are we taxpayers forced to pay men and women to jeopardize their kids' well-being by going off to make war in foreign lands?" Some adults may be fool enough to buy the government's propaganda about "serving their country," but must we who know better be forced to participate in this atrocity? We often hear public policy justified in the name of "the children." A noninterventionist foreign policy can genuinely satisfy that criterion.
That's the micro level. Now the macro. Someone (who? Stalin?) once said something along these lines: "A single death is a tragedy; a million deaths is a statistic." Well, how about some 200,000 deaths? That's the minimum number of Bengalis killed in 1971 in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) by the dictator of Pakistan, with weapons and support provided by the regime of Richard M. Nixon and Henry A. Kissinger.
The story is told in a new book by Gary J. Bass, The Blood Telegram: Nixon, Kissinger, and a Forgotten Genocide. In 1971, President Nixon and National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger (later secretary of state) badly wanted to go to Red
China to, among other reasons, exploit the conflict between China and the Soviet Union, and to overshadow the impending defeat in Vietnam. Their connection to Mao Zedong was General Agha Muhammad Yahya Khan, the anticommunist military dictator of Pakistan, a man Nixon liked and admired.
In those days, Pakistan was America's ally, while Pakistan's enemy, democratic India, was nonaligned but friendly with the Soviet Union. When India won independence from Great Britain in 1947, the subcontinent was partitioned into India and Pakistan. But Muslim Pakistan itself was divided into east and west with India in between. As Bass explains in a New York Times op-ed,
This strange arrangement held until 1970, when Bengali nationalists in East Pakistan triumphed in nationwide elections. The ruling military government, based in West Pakistan, feared losing its grip. So on March 25, 1971, the Pakistani Army launched a devastating crackdown on the rebellious Bengalis in the east.
Hundreds of thousands of Bengalis were killed — 3 million, according to the Bangladeshi government — and 10 million refugees poured into India, "where they died in droves in wretched refugee camps." The onslaught helped spark a war between Pakistan and India (whose hands were also not clean), which ended in a decisive victory for India and independence for East Pakistan, renamed Bangladesh. (Before it was over, however, the world came close to a confrontation between India's friend the Soviet Union and Pakistan's friend China, compliments of the Nixon-Kissinger regime.)
Who outfitted the military dictatorship's army knowing this slaughter would take place? Who kept doing so when it actually was taking place? And who offered private encouragement to Yahya?
Nixon and Kissinger.
Bass documents the story with, among other things, newly declassified government documents, despite Kissinger's policy of keeping his papers out of the hands of historians.
Nixon and Kissinger, Bass writes, were engaged in more than Cold War calculations. They also disliked the people of India. When diplomats on the scene — particularly Archer Blood (he of the telegram), consul general in Dacca, East Pakistan, and Kenneth Keating, ambassador to India — protested the U.S.-backed "genocide," they were scorned as a "maniac" and a "traitor."
The enormity of Nixon's and Kissinger's crimes cannot be exaggerated:
As its most important international backer, the United States had great influence over Pakistan. But at almost every turning point in the crisis, Nixon and Kissinger failed to use that leverage to avert disaster. Before the shooting started, they consciously decided not to warn Pakistan's military chiefs against using violence on their own population… They did not threaten the loss of U.S. support or even sanctions if Pakistan took the wrong course. They allowed the army to sweep aside the results of Pakistan's first truly free and fair democratic election, without even suggesting that the military strongmen try to work out a power-sharing deal with the Bengali leadership that had won the vote. They did not ask that Pakistan refrain from using U.S. weaponry to slaughter civilians, even though that could have impeded the military's rampage, and might have deterred the army. There was no public condemnation – nor even a private threat of it – from the president, secretary of state or other senior officials….
Nixon and Kissinger bear responsibility for a significant complicity in the slaughter of the Bengalis. This overlooked episode deserves to be a defining part of their historical reputations.
Does any of this sound familiar? See U.S. policy in Egypt, Bahrain, Palestine, or (another one from Kissinger's playbook) East Timor, among many others.
The historian Ralph Raico observes that critics of the libertarian world view complain that the market treats people like commodities. Maybe, Raico replies. But the state treats people like garbage.
Sheldon Richman is vice president and editor at The Future of Freedom Foundation in Fairfax, Va. (www.fff.org).


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At every Catholic Mass, following the command of Jesus himself, the celebrant raises the host and says, "Take this, all of you, and eat it: This is my body, which will be given up for you." Then he lifts the cup and says, "Take this, all of you, and drink from it: This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the new and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Do this in memory of me."
The doctrine of transubstantiation, the teaching that bread and wine are converted into the actual flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, is difficult. When Christ first told his followers of it, many rejected him. But Jesus did not clarify his statement or correct their misunderstanding. He simply repeated his command to the disciples at the Last Supper. Some Christians today still have trouble accepting this teaching.
Throughout history, though, many people have reported miracles that brought them back to the truth. The Church has recognized over one hundred eucharistic miracles, many of which occurred during times of weakened faith in transubstantiation.
One of the earliest was recorded by the Desert Fathers in Egypt, who were among the first Christian monks. One of these monks had doubts about the Real Presence of Jesus in the consecrated bread and wine. Two of his fellow monks prayed for his faith to be strengthened, and they all attended Mass together. According the account they left behind, when the bread was placed on the altar, the three men saw a small child there. When the priest put out his hand to break the bread, an angel descended with a sword and poured the child's blood into the chalice. When the priest cut the bread into small pieces, the angel also cut the child into pieces. When the men drew near to receive Communion, the skeptical man alone received a morsel of bloody flesh. Seeing this, he became afraid and cried out: "Lord, I believe that this bread is your flesh and this chalice your blood." Immediately the flesh became bread, and he took it, giving thanks to God.
The other monks then had a great insight into the miracle that takes place at each Mass. They explained, "God knows human nature and that man cannot eat raw flesh, and that is why he has changed his body into bread and his blood into wine for those who receive it in faith."
Bloodstained Cloths
In 1263, a German priest known as Peter of Prague was struggling with the doctrine of transubstantiation. While he was saying Mass in Bolseno, Italy, blood began to stream out of the host and onto the corporal at the moment of consecration. This was reported to and investigated by Pope Urban IV, who concluded that the miracle was real. The bloodstained linen is still exhibited at the cathedral in Orvieto, Italy. Many eucharistic miracles are like the one experienced by Peter of Prague, in which the host turns into flesh and blood.
Pope Urban had already associated with a eucharistic miracle. Years earlier, Bl. Juliana of Cornillon, in Belgium, had a vision in which she saw a full moon that was darkened in one spot. A heavenly voice told her that the moon represented the Church at that time, and the dark spot showed that a great feast in honor of Corpus Christi was missing from the liturgical calendar. She reported this vision to a local Church official, the archdeacon of Liège, He later became Pope Urban IV.
Remembering Juliana's vision as he verified the bloody miracle reported by Peter of Prague, Urban commissioned St. Thomas Aquinas to compose the Office for the Mass and Liturgy of the Hours for a new feast dedicated to devotion of the Eucharist. This liturgy of Corpus Christi (more fully defined in 1312) is pretty much how we celebrate it today.
At Mass on Easter Sunday, 1331, in Blanot, a small village in the middle of France, one of the last people to receive Communion was a woman named Jacquette. The priest placed the host on her tongue, turned, and started walking toward the altar. He did not notice that the host fell from her mouth and landed on a cloth covering her hands. When he was alerted to it, he went back to the woman, who was still kneeling at the railing. Instead of finding the host on the cloth, the priest saw only a spot of blood.
When Mass was over, the priest took the cloth into the sacristy and placed it in a basin of water. He washed the spot numerous times but found that it became darker and larger, eventually reaching the size and shape of a host. He took a knife and cut the part bearing the bloody imprint of the host from the cloth. He then put it in the tabernacle along with the consecrated hosts that remained after the Mass.
Those consecrated hosts were never distributed. Instead, they were kept in the tabernacle along with the cloth relic. After hundreds of years, they were still perfectly preserved. Unfortunately, they were lost during the French Revolution. The bloodstained cloth, though, was preserved by a parishioner named Dominique Cortet. It is solemnly exposed in St. Martin's Church in Blanot every year on the feast of Corpus Christi.
A Bright Light
With some eucharistic miracles, the host emits a bright light. In 1247, for instance, a woman in Santarem, Portugal, was concerned about her husband's faithfulness. She went to a sorceress, who promised the woman that her husband would return to his loving ways if the wife would bring a consecrated host back to the sorceress. The woman agreed.
At Mass, the woman managed to obtain a consecrated host and put it in a kerchief, but before she could return to the sorceress, the cloth became bloodstained. This frightened the woman. She hurried home and hid the cloth and host in a drawer in her bedroom. That night, the drawer emitted a bright light. When her husband saw it, the woman told him what had happened. The following day, many townspeople came to the house, attracted by the light.
The people reported the events back to the parish priest, who went to the house. He took the host back to the church and put it in a wax container where it continued to bleed for three days. The host remained in the wax container for four years. One day when the priest opened the tabernacle door, he saw that the wax had broken into numerous pieces. In its place was a crystal container with the blood inside.
The house where the miracle took place was converted into a chapel in 1684. Even today, on the second Sunday of April, the incident is re-enacted in the Church of St. Stephen in Santarem. The reliquary that houses the miraculous host rests above the tabernacle in that church, and it can be viewed year-round from a set of stairs behind the main altar.
A similar phenomenon took place in the 1300s in the village of Wawel, near Krakow, Poland. Thieves broke into a church, forced their way into the tabernacle, and stole the monstrance containing consecrated hosts. When they determined that the monstrance was not made of gold, they threw it into nearby marshlands.
When darkness fell, a light emanated from the spot where the monstrance and consecrated hosts had been abandoned. The light was visible for several kilometers, and frightened villagers reported it to the bishop of Krakow. The bishop called for three days of fasting and prayer. On the third day, he led a procession to the marsh. There he found the monstrance and the consecrated hosts, which were unbroken. Annually on the occasion of the feast of the Corpus Christi, this miracle is celebrated in Corpus Christi Church in Krakow.
The Face of the Christ Child
In some eucharistic miracles, an image appears on the host. The miracle of Eten, Peru, for instance, began on June 2, 1649. That night, as Fr. Jèrome Silva was about to replace the monstrance in the tabernacle, he saw in the host the image of a child with thick brown curls that fell to his shoulders. He held the host up to show the image to those present. They all agreed that it was an image of the Christ Child.
A second apparition took place the following month. During the exhibition of the Eucharist, the Child Jesus appeared again in the host, dressed in a purple habit over a shirt that covered his chest, as was the custom of the local Indians, the Mochicas. It was felt at the time that the divine Child wanted to show his love for the Mochicas. During this apparition, which lasted about fifteen minutes, many people also saw in the host three small white hearts, thought to symbolize the three Persons of the Holy Trinity. The celebration in honor of the Miraculous Child of Eten still attracts thousands of people to Peru each year.
One of the more recent verified miracles was of a similar nature. It began on April 28, 2001, in Trivandrum, India. Fr. Johnson Karoor was saying Mass when he saw three dots on the consecrated host. He stopped reciting the prayers and stared at the Eucharist. He then invited those at Mass to look, and they also saw the dots. He asked the faithful to remain in prayer, and he placed the Holy Eucharist in the tabernacle.
At Mass on May 5, Fr. Karoor again noticed an image on the host, this time a human face. During adoration, the figure became more clear. Fr. Karoor later explained: "I didn't have the strength to speak anything to the faithful. I stood aside for some time. I couldn't control my tears. We had the practice of reading Scripture and reflecting on it during adoration. The passage that I got that day as I opened the Bible was John 20:24–29, Jesus appearing to St. Thomas and asking him to see his wounds." Fr. Karoor called a photographer to take photos. They can be seen on the Internet at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-religion/988409/posts.
Parting the Waters
A totally different type of eucharistic miracle was recorded by St. Zosimus of Palestine in the sixth century. This miracle concerns St. Mary of Egypt, who left her parents at the age of twelve and became a prostitute. Seventeen years later, she found herself in Palestine. On the feast day of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, Mary went to the church, looking for customers. At the door of the church, she saw an image of the Virgin Mary. She was overcome with remorse for the life she had led and asked for our Lady's guidance. A voice told her, "If you cross the Jordan River, you will find peace."
The next day, Mary did so. There, she took up the life of a hermit and lived alone in the desert for forty-seven years. As the Virgin had promised, she found peace of soul. One day she saw a monk, St. Zosimus of Palestine, who had come to the desert for Lent. Although they had never met, Mary called him by his name. They spoke for a while, and at the end of the conversation, she asked Zosimus to come back the following year and bring the Eucharist for her.
Zosimus did as she requested, but Mary was on the other side of the Jordan. There was no boat for him to cross to her, and Zosimus thought that it would be impossible to give her Communion. St. Mary made the sign of the cross and walked across the water to meet him, and he gave her Communion. She again asked him to return the following year, but when he did, he found that she had died. Next to her corpse was a note asking that he bury her. He reported that he was assisted by a lion in the digging of her grave.
My favorite eucharistic miracle took place in Avignon, France, in November 1433. A small church run by the Gray Penitents of the Franciscan order was exhibiting a consecrated host for perpetual adoration. After several days of heavy rain, the Sorgue and Rhône rivers had risen to a dangerous height. On November 30, Avignon was flooded. The head of the order and another friar rowed a boat to the church, certain that their little church had been destroyed. Instead, they saw a miracle.
Although water around the church was four feet high, a pathway from the doorway to the altar was perfectly dry, and the sacred host was untouched. The water had been held back in the same way the Red Sea had parted. Amazed by what they had seen, the Friars had others from their order come to the church to verify the miracle. The news spread rapidly, and many townspeople and authorities came to the church, singing songs of praise and of thanks to the Lord. Still today, the Gray Penitent brothers reunite at the Chapelle des Pénitents Gris every November 30 to celebrate the memory of the miracle. Before the blessing of the sacrament, the brothers perform a sacred chant taken from the Canticle of Moses, which was composed after the parting of the Red Sea.
The Miracle of Mass
The Real Presence Association is currently translating reports of 120 Vatican-approved miracles from Italian into English. The stories of these miracles will be available at www.therealpresence.org.
Faith, of course, should not be based on miracles alone. Several of the recorded miracles are very old, and it may be possible to dismiss them. There is no doubt, though, that reports of these miracles have strengthened the faith of many in the instructions given by Christ and provided avenues for contemplation of the miracle that takes place at each Mass. The translation of these reports will permit more people to learn of eucharistic miracles and, like others before them, have their faith in Jesus' teachings strengthened.


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By Adam Carey and Clay Lucas
The six-kilometre East West Link tollway through Melbourne's inner north will be built after Planning Minister Matthew Guy announced he had approved the project on Monday.
But some elements of the massively controversial road project have been culled following the recommendations of a 30-day planning panel hearing held in April.
Much of Royal Park's heritage-listed grounds have been spared the bulldozer after Mr Guy axed the Elliott Avenue interchange from the design. The road will instead be built with access to Flemington Road, "subject to further detailed design work", Mr Guy said.
Refinements to the design of the nest of flyovers at the tunnel's western end in Parkville will also be required.
"I have approved the East West Link eastern section as a wholly integrated project that will deliver a critical transport connection for Victoria," Mr Guy said.
"The value and importance of the East West Link project to Victoria is clearly recognised in the assessment committee's report. The project will significantly improve traffic flows in Melbourne's inner-north and provide an opportunity for enhanced public transport services."
But Mr Guy did not accept all of the planning panel's recommendations. The link to the Port of Melbourne, with an elevated road running parallel to CityLink above Moonee Ponds Creek to Footscray Road, was approved despite the assessment committee having recommended deferring its construction while other options - building it as a tunnel or to the east of CityLink, instead of it being on the viaduct's western side - be reviewed.
The committee recommended that the link to the port, called Part B, be set aside until recently announced works on CityLink, the Tullamarine Freeway and WestLink were "clarified".
Opposition planning spokesman Brian Tee said the committee had found the process was rushed and incomplete. "The process hasn't followed any logical path - it has been botched every step of the way," Mr Tee said. "We don't have a business plan, we don't have traffic projections, and now we don't even have a finalised route."
The $6 billion to $8 billion link is the most expensive road project in Victoria's history. Work is due to start this year and finish in 2019.
Harriet Mantell, from the community group Residents against the Tunnel, said she was gratified that Mr Guy had released the committee's full report but "very disappointed" that he had approved the project.
"Obviously there is some relief about the nightmare at Elliott Avenue, but I'm just concerned that we now have potentially a whole new series of impacts because he's decided to change the route and presumably the project boundary. There will be significant impact and all those people who are impacted won't have an opportunity to have a say on this," Ms Mantell said.
She urged the Napthine government to defer signing contracts for the project until after an assessment of the revised design's full impact on Flemington Road.


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Palestinians are trudging down the same long road as Israelis. Yes, they want peace. No, they don't think the other side will play ball. So for now their priority is private life: Getting food on the table and keeping the kids safe. That, at least, is the picture painted by a new survey of 1,010 Palestinians interviewed face to face in both the West Bank and Gaza over the last two weeks. It was conducted by a Palestinian firm working for Stan Greenberg, famed as Bill Clinton's pollster but who did this work for The Israel Project, a well-funded private U.S. group that promotes the positions of Israel's government.
The findings generally line up with recent surveys by Palestinian pollsters but were enhanced by focus groups, which found, for instance, that the public shift away from diplomacy and towards, most of all, jobs, tends to boost the prospects of Salam Fayyad, the Palestinian Authority Prime Minister who has made governance and basic competence at least watchwords in an organization long synonymous with nepotism and corruption.
"In the focus groups there was a dramatic shift in how people were seeing him," says Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, the former campaign consultant who founded The Israel Project. "People were saying they could imagine him in a larger role."
That matters for a couple of reasons. First, the announced reconciliation between the two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, is hung up on who will head the technocratic government that's supposed to govern both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip until new elections go forward next year. Hamas loathes Fayyad, not least because his government has cooperated with Israeli security in suppressing its operatives on the West Bank. But the secular Fatah is insisting that the former World Bank official head the interim government. "What's important is that people reach agreement, and it seems there's no agreement yet on the name," says Ziad Abu Amr, a political science professor at Birzeit Univeristy who has been mentioned as a compromise candidate, in part because of his impressive credentials and in part because he was born in Gaza City.
Beyond the premiership, though, Fayyad's rising popular regard — 71 percent approval on the West Bank — suggest new potential for the top job, president of the Palestinian Authority. Current President Mahmoud Abbas, also known as Abu Mazen, enjoys similar ratings but has said he will not run again.
Losers in the survey include:
* President Obama, who 7 in 10 Palestinians say they do not trust to represent their interest, a disillusionment that stems most recently from the U.S. veto of a Security Council resolution condemning Israel for its 120-plus settlements on the West Bank;
* Hamas, disapproved of by two of three, including in Gaza, where it has ruled since 2007;
* Iran, which 77 percent of Palestinians see negatively, an uptick in villainy likely attributable to its role in suppressing the Arab Spring uprising in neighboring Syria, if not the demands of its own people after stealing the last election.
The campaign to ask the United Nations for Palestinian statehood also faired poorly. While Palestinians were divided on whether a General Assembly vote would make any difference, only 4 percent regarded it as an important issue. "It is a non-subject as far as the Palestinian public," Greenberg says. In focus groups, no one mentioned it unprompted.
Otherwise the picture of Palestinian desires was a muddled as ever. Most folks doubt there'll be a third intifada, or uprising. Most also oppose firing rockets into Israeli cities, and call the murder of a settler family in Itamar "wrong." And by two to one, Palestinians favor ending Israel's 44-year military occupation through negotiations rather than by violent resistance. But by the same 2 to 1 margin they also oppose the two-state solution that's been the stated goal of negotiations. Most prefer ending up with a single state, in which Palestinians presumably would outnumber Jewish Israelis. The poll numbers shift some (to 44 percent positive) when the question becomes whether they "will accept a two-state solution." Greenberg says the difference is simply a matter of asking what people want versus what they can live with. "I polled in Great Britain a lot during the negotiations on Northern Ireland," he says. "What people say they want and what people will ultimately agree to are two different things."
The most striking finding, though, was Palestinians' focus on daily life. Job creation was cited by 83 percent of West Bank residents asked what Abbas should make his top two priorities, followed (at 36 percent) by expansion of health care services and ending chronic water shortages. Where should the jobs come from? A 44 percent plurality favored microfinance lending to start new companies — a finding that surprised the pollsters. Removing Israeli checkpoints to ease movement around the West Bank ranked next.
"I think people are adapting to the circumstances," Greenberg says.
Jewish Israelis have turned inward for the same reasons, pollsters say. The latest Peace Index poll out of Tel Aviv University this week found just a quarter of Israeli Jews believed a two-state deal would be reached in the next two or three years, and fewer than half would bet on a deal in a decade's time. They approach unanimity, however, on the economy. A "sweeping" 80 percent majority were troubled by socio-economic questions, especially the wide gap between rich and poor. The poor, in Israel, typically include the one in five who are Palestinian, so-called Israeli Arabs, 75 percent of whom say their economic situation has worsened in the last year. It's tough on both sides of the Green Line, but always tougher if the language of the house is Arabic.


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Aceh: Public Caning of Accused Adulterers Deplored as Un-Islamic
A human rights activist on Thursday slammed the humiliating punishment meted out to a teacher in Aceh Barat and the married woman he was suspected of having an affair with after the pair were marched through a village naked, tied to a pole and then brutally beaten. "To parade people around naked is not sanctioned in Islam," said Zulfikar Muhammad, an activist from a coalition of human rights organizations in the staunchly Muslim province.
"The acts of the villagers who paraded the two through a village clearly violates both Islamic Shariah law and human rights. Islam upholds justice and the rights of human beings."
Zulfikar's statement comes after T Abdurrazak, operational commander of Aceh's feared Shariah Police, confirmed on Thursday that the teacher, identified as Bus, 36, and was reportedly from an Islamic boarding school in Aceh Besar, had been caught in the bedroom of Yus, a 28-year-old housewife, in Seuneubok village, Meulaboh district, on Wednesday. The case is being dealt with by Aceh Barat Police.
Villagers had suspected for at least a year that the couple were having an affair, Abdurrazak said, adding that Yus's husband was seldom at home because his job required him to travel out of town extensively.
He said villagers claimed they had often seen Bus enter through the back door of the house at night whenever the husband was out.
Abdurrazak said the villagers had decided to catch the couple in the act and at 2 a.m. on Wednesday, they broke down the door and allegedly found the pair in the bedroom. Abdurrazak, however, said he did not know whether the couple had actually been caught in in the act of committing adultery.
"Even though the Shariah Police has every right to investigate this violation, we do not have investigators as yet," he said. "We are therefore working in collaboration with local Aceh Barat Police to process the case."
According to a local Shariah regulation, adulterers face a maximum punishment of being publicly caned nine times.
"If the Qanun Jinayat had been signed by Aceh's governor, the couple could have faced stoning to death," Abdurrazak added, referring to the controversial set of local bylaws passed in September by the province's legislative council to replace parts of the Criminal Code. Aceh Governor Irwandi Yusuf refused to sign off on the new code citing humanitarian grounds.
Abdurrazak said the pair were marched naked through the village and then both tied to a pole and beaten. After the police arrived to rescue the couple, they were rushed to the Cut Nyak Dhien General Hospital in the district capital of Meulaboh for emergency treatment, he added.
April 08, 2010
Nurdin Hasan
abridged from "Freedom of Expression in Islam" by Kamali
Avoiding harm to others and concealing the weakness of one's fellow human beings is a prominent theme of the moral teachings of the Quran and the Sunnah. The message here is conveyed in a variety of forms, context and ideas, all of which are indicative of Islam's emphasis on the honour and dignity of the individual, and of his or her right to privacy safe from the encroachment of others.
Thus according to a hadith:
"If a person conceals the weakness of another in this world, Allah will conceal their weakness in the hereafter" [Al Nawawi, Riyad al Salihin p 135, Hadith no 245; al Ghazali, Kitab Adab p 344]
A variant version of the same message is reported in another hadith, which states:
"Whoever protects the honour of his brother, will have Allah protect his countenance from the fire on the Day of Judgement" [Al Nawawi, Riyad al Salihin p 488, Hadith no 1530]
In yet another hadith we read:
"Do not harm Muslims, and do not revile them, nor pursue their imperfections. For verily, whosoever pursues the imperfections of his brother shall have his own imperfections pursued by Allah" [Sunan of al Tirmidhi, as quoted in Principles of State and Government in Islam, p 85]
Concealing the faults of, and respecting the privacy of others is again the theme of the following hadith:
"The Muslim who helps another when the latter's honour and dignity are under attack, shall be helped by Allah, Glorious and Sublime is He! - at a time when he would wish for Allah's help. But he who forsakes a Muslim whose dignity is under attack, shall have Allah forsake him at a time when he would wish for Allah's help" [Al Ghazali, Ihyaa Ulum al Din; Kitab Adab al Suhbah p 369]
It was reported that one night when Caliph Umar was patrolling Medina, he saw a man and a woman committing adultery. The following day the caliph informed other Companions and asked them whether he should enforce the prescribed penalty (hadd) for zina (fornication) on the basis of his own observations. To this Ali replied that the law of Allah stated clearly that four witnesses were required to prove zina, and that this provision was to be applied equally to the caliph. Other companions are also reported to have concurred with Ali's opinion.
While quoting this report, al Ghazali observes that this is strong evidence that the shariah demands the concealment of sins (satr al fawahish); it also discourages spying on or reporting the private affairs of others. [Kitab al Adab p 345-6]
It is noted that concealment (satr) is recommended only with regard to persons who are not generally known to engage in corrupt and harmful activities. As for those who are notorious, it is recommended that their evil is not concealed and that the matter is reported to the authorities.
Exposing the faults of others by casting aspersions, or spying on them, is particularly reprehensible. Thus according to a hadith, people are warned:
"Beware of suspicion. For suspicion is the most untrue form of speech; and do not spy upon one another and do not revile one another." [Sahih Muslim, Kitab al birr wal silah, Bab al nahy an al tajasus]
Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal was once asked about the correct meaning of the following hadith:
"When you hear something form or about your brother, ascribe to it the best interpretation until you can no longer do so"
To this, he replied:
"Find an excuse for him by saying, 'Maybe he said this, or maybe he meant such and such'"
It is further reported in another hadith:
"Whoever is offered an apology from a fellow Muslim should accept it unless he knows that the person apologising is being dishonest" [Mishkat al Tabrizi, Vol III Hadith no 5052]
Commenting on these hadiths, Tuffah has rightly observed that, despite the occurrence of the word brother (akh) therein, they are of general import, and their scope is not confined to Muslims, the reason being that in Islam justice and benevolence (adl wa ihsan) are not confined to Muslims alone. The question of the way people treat fellow citizens in society, their brothers and sisters in humanity, is closely linked with the Quranic concepts of adl and ihsan, and these do not admit if any restriction that would compromise their objective application. [Tuffah, Masadir pp 89-90]
This indeed is the main point of the following Quranic text:
"And let not the hatred of a people harm you into being unjust. Be just, for it is closet to piety (taqwa)" [Surah 5: verse 8]
Furthermore, Hasan, the son of Ali is reported to have said:
"If a man abuses me in one ear and then apologises to me in the other, I shall accept his apology" [Al Maqdisi, al Adab, I p 341]
Thus it is evident that silence takes priority over speech when it comes to exposing the faults and weaknesses of others.
'One should not talk about the defects of others even if one is asked about them. One must try to avoid prying and asking personal questions about the private lives of others" [Al Ghazali, Kitab Adab pp 242-43]
For tolerance and forgiveness are necessary in order to encourage an atmosphere of fraternity in the community.
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I can considering to add a new feature to a program I am current working on. I will explain briefly on the program.
I am working on a program that is basically a text editor. it looks and feels almost like Notepad.
I want to add a feature similar that includes a split view. The program will operate using two views. The views are split in horizontally. The top view is the original text. So if the user opens a text file that has "Hello MFC," then the program will always display the original text on the top view. The second view located at the bottom is the modified view. I have a feature in the program where, for example, it will seach a text file and capitalize the first letter of a sentence. Once done, I want to display the modified text in the second view.
I would like to know the best approach for something like that with these key feature:
1) separate and unique saves
--- the user can save *both* files separately. the save features on the menu applies to the original text (top view).
What is the best approach to somehow mark what view the user wants to save? I have two ideas.
1) upon save, the program would save whatever view is *active* (cursor).
2) have a second toolbar for the view #2
I am not sure how to implement either of the above. I tried adding a second toolbar, but the program ignores it (I did not see it).


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LA Furniture Store - Flagship Design Center
We Don't Just Furnish Your Home, We Furnish Your Dreams
LA Furniture Store was founded nearly 20 years ago with the mission of providing the latest in Contemporary, Modern and Transitional style furniture at a reasonable price point. We aim to make luxury more affordable by offering unique and exclusive items you won't find anywhere else.
Los Angeles (US: (listen) lawss AN-jəl-əs; Spanish: Los Ángeles [los ˈaŋxeles], lit. 'The Angels'), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Southern California. With a population of roughly 3.9 million as of 2020, it is also the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world's most populous megacities. Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic and cultural diversity, Hollywood film industry, and sprawling metropolitan area. The city of Los Angeles lies in a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean extending through the Santa Monica Mountains and into the San Fernando Valley. It covers about 469 square miles (1,210 km2), and is the seat of Los Angeles County, which is the most populous county in the United States with an estimated 9.86 million as of 2022.Home to the Chumash and Tongva indigenous peoples, the area that became Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542.
Adams-Normandie, Angelus Vista, Arlington Heights, Baldwin Hills, Belvedere Gardens, Beverly Grove, Beverly Ridge Estates, Beverlywood, Brentwood Glen, Brentwood Heights, Bunker Hill, Castle Heights, Central Alameda, Central LA, Crestview


text:
Ed Warby was born and raised in Rotterdam and is best known as the drummer for Gorefest and Ayreon. He also appeared in the band Agressor in 1982 and joined the Eindhoven-based prog-outfit Elegy in 1987. Moved to Gorefest in 1992, where he replaced the former drummer just before the recording sessions of "False", he had to learn all themes and develop his work in just two weeks, which he managed to achieve in a matter so fast that producer Colin Richardson nicknamed him Fast Eddy.
After Gorefest split up in 1999, he took part in the re-united Gorefest in 2004. In 1998, Arjen Anthony Lucassen asked him to perform on his album Into the Electric Castle, because Arjen was impressed with Warby's works with Gorefest. From that moment on, Ed Warby had performed on Ayreon's every album, except for Universal Migrator Part 1: The Dream Sequencer. He also performed on the re-recording of Actual Fantasy (the original recording featured a computerized set of drums). He's also a member, since its creation in 2002, of Lucassen's band Star One.He helped the Dutch popband Krezip during the recordings of "Days Like This" in 2002. He also helped German band Love Like Blood with three songs of their album "Snakekiller", in 1998. In 2005 he played live with the Dutch Gothic metal band After Forever.
In 2008, Warby began a doom metal project named The 11th Hour, and released the album The Burden of Grief in 2009. All guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, and clean vocals are performed by Warby, with the additional growls contributed by Rogga Johansson (Ribspreader).


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Studio Lighting – Cactus Slave Flash Cable Hack
Apr 29, 2008
Studio Lighting – Cactus Slave Flash Cable Hack
As you may know, I am a great fan of off camera flash
I've owned a Nikon SB-28 since my analog days and added a Nikon SB800 when going digital. Advised by Strobist, I added a third flash – a Nikon SB26.
To get all those flashes going off camera, I bought some cheapo Cactus (AKA Gadget Infinity) flash radio triggers – those can be found at eBay for just a few dollars. I initially bought two receivers and when I added the Nikon SB26 to my collection, I bought the third one.
I really like those cheapo triggers and up until now they were lots of fun (see this shot, I just can't miss a shot at showing my son off). Of course, if you need high reliability, you should consider the big brother: Pocket Wizards.
Each of the receivers has a male phone jack connected, so it can be attached to high power studio flash. The full eBay kit also comes with a connector cable that has a phone jack on one side and a pc-sync (or x-sync) connector on the other.
So for the first flash unit, I used a headphone splitter. This was nice, but way to clumsy. I wanted something a bit more elegant for my next unit. (Besides, the third receive did not come with a connector cable).
So… I went to my local camera store and bought an ancient pc-sync cable. The jack on this one was a weird jack that did not fit any flash I know. I also got a female headset jack from my local electronics store. The next few paragraphs are an illustrated tutorial of how I made the oldie sync-cord into a female jack to pc-sync cord. (Click an image to make it larger).
– Cheapo eBay Remote
– Female headset jack
– Oldie but goody Vivitar pc-sync cable
First cut the oldie jack from the oldie pc-sync cable and expose the wiring.
Then open the female jack and slide the plasticy part on the pc-cord. (This step has to be done now. After you connect the wired the plastic will not slide).
Next connect the sync cable exposed wires to the metal part of the jack. In the jack I used I connected one wire to the "right" connector of the jack, and one wire to the "left" connector of the jack. I left the "front" connector untouched.
Now slide the plastic and screw it back.
Last step is to connect the cable to the remote flash trigger.
The entire thing should take about 5 minutes.
More Flash Hacks:
– Flash Mounted homemade DIY Softbox
– 4 ways to bounce a flash
– Homemade Speedlite "Snoot"
– Pocket Wizard Mounting Device II
– The CD Spindle Ringflash
Udi Tirosh
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Join the Discussion
DIYP Comment Policy
Be nice, be on-topic, no personal information or flames.


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Last Update: Nov 2008 |
The Visitor's Biking Guide to Washington DC |
Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
Where are the bike trails? Whether you are new to the area or just visiting for a few days, Washington DC has some great multi-use / multi-terrain trails and routes for your riding pleasure.
Most of these trails converge near Theodore Roosevelt Island in Rosslyn VA. That's why I like to call Roosevelt Island "Bike Central". Although the island itself is off limits to bikes, the parking area makes a great jumping off point for trips all over the area. To get to Roosevelt Island, check out the Park and Bike Guide. In case the parking area is full (which is often the case), an alternate place to park is across the river under the Whitehurst Freeway (easy access to the C&O Towpath from here). From the island, you can access many of the trails listed below, or you can try some local routes, such as the Potomac Tour or the Arlington Triangle. |
I'm a new biker. Where are the "easy" bike trails? Check out the region's great Rail Trails. These paths are nearly flat, having once been railroad beds. Can I take my bike on the Subway? Yes, but there are several restrictions. Refer to the Bike-on-Rail page for details. Safety and Crime? Like any major city, DC has some trouble spots. The green areas are quite safe, while the red areas show the rougher neighborhoods. |
Descriptions of Major DC Area Trails
Email: Here! |


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- 02/12/2024
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- Cribl Stream, Engineering
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text:
Actually, I'd advise marijuana legalization fans not to get terribly excited by this clip from the former President, who literally did nothing but talk about this issue when he had four years to do so. In fact, Jimmy Carter starts off by reminding everyone that he called for the decriminalization — "not the legalization" — of marijuana during his single term in office, but never quite gets around to the fact that the one speech was the only effort he made. After that, Carter manages to confuse the issue with the death penalty and the fact that rich white guys don't get executed, which has nothing much to do with marijuana prohibition at all, except in Carter's mind:
The Hill makes Carter sound more coherent:
"I'm in favor of it. I think it's OK," Carter said at the forum, which was taped Friday. "I don't think it's going to happen in Georgia yet, but I think we can watch and see what happens in the state of Washington, for instance around Seattle, and let the American government and let the American people see does it cause a serious problem or not."
Carter added that he thought it was appropriate to allow states like Washington and Colorado — which voted last month to legalize recreational marijuana use — to see how marijuana legalization would look. …
The former president added that he did not think that legalizing drugs would lead to more drug users.
"All drugs were decriminalized in Portugal a few years ago and the use of drugs has gone down dramatically and nobody has been put in prison," Carter said.
Well, no one being put in prison goes hand in hand with decriminalization, so that's not exactly a metric on which to rely. Carter's right about Portugal's rate of addiction, although the methodology might not transfer well to the US:
Health experts in Portugal said Friday that Portugal's decision 10 years ago to decriminalise drug use and treat addicts rather than punishing them is an experiment that has worked.
"There is no doubt that the phenomenon of addiction is in decline in Portugal," said Joao Goulao, President of the Institute of Drugs and Drugs Addiction, a press conference to mark the 10th anniversary of the law.
The number of addicts considered "problematic" — those who repeatedly use "hard" drugs and intravenous users — had fallen by half since the early 1990s, when the figure was estimated at around 100,000 people, Goulao said.
The decline doesn't come from decriminalization itself, but from enforced treatment for addicts:
A law that became active on July 1, 2001 did not legalise drug use, but forced users caught with banned substances to appear in front of special addiction panels rather than in a criminal court.
The panels composed of psychologists, judges and social workers recommended action based on the specifics of each case.
Since then, government panels have recommended a response based largely on whether the individual is an occasional drug user or an addict.
Of the nearly 40,000 people currently being treated, "the vast majority of problematic users are today supported by a system that does not treat them as delinquents but as sick people," Goulao said.
In order to achieve these results, we would have to involuntarily commit addicts to treatment even though drug use has been "decriminalized." I suspect that civil libertarians who cheer legalization might have a few issues with this idea.


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October 10, 2001
Horton served as the Executor of the estate of Robert Warde Chambers. When Chambers died in 1989, Horton was to distribute the assets of the Chambers estate to charitable organizations. Instead, over a 10 year period, Horton is accused of converting the assets of the estate to his personal use. The estate included stock in major corporations such as Coca-Cola, First Union Bank and the Southern Company. Horton is accused of converting stock and securities belonging to the estate to his personal use, as well as stealing money and property from the estate. The estate was valued in excess of $2 million at the time of the theft.
Attorney General Baker said, "It is a travesty that anyone would steal money that has been designated for charity, especially someone that has been placed in a position of trust and authority, such as Mr. Horton. I am troubled by his thoughtless actions. I will do all in my power to make sure that that the assets of the Chambers estate will finally go to the organizations that Mr. Chambers intended."
The indictment includes 29 counts of Theft by Conversion and one count of violation of the RICO statute. If convicted on all counts, Horton faces a maximum sentence of 455 years in prison. His arraignment on the charges is scheduled for October 15, 2001.
The Attorney General's Office has also filed a civil lawsuit against Horton to recover the money and property belonging to the estate.
Assistant Attorney General Cassandra Schansman will prosecute the criminal case.